Gas-lighting system.



R. W. EARLE.

GAS LIGHTING SYSTEM.

APPLlCATlON HLED FEB. 29. 1916.

m wa p Patenhad Sept 4, 191?.

m m, I.

2 A TTORNEY.

I VITNESSES REGINALD W. EARLE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO KATHARINE F. GOODYEAR,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

' GAS-LIGHTING SYSTEM.

Application filed February 29, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, REGINALD W. EARLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gas-Lighting Systems, of which the following is a clear, full, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to produce a complete, eflicient, economical, safe and inexpensive acetylene lighting system.

Specific objects of the invention are to eliminate the necessity for automatic pressure regulators, gas storage reservoirs or gasometers with their interconnecting piping and traps, liquid sealed pressure or volumetric blow-off orrelief devices, to make it feasible to use so-called hollow wire or piping of very small bore which comes in continuous lengths and is flexible, eliminating the use of couplings or elbows, and at the same time to provide adequate and uniform pressure at the burners and provide for the simultaneous use in the same system of diflerent types of burners requiring very different pressures.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a system which may be easily packed and shipped complete in one box or case containing the acetylene generator piping and all necessary fixtures, to provide a system which can be easily and quickly installed without the services of plumbers or gasfitters, to provide a system which makes possible the use of high efliciency acetylene mantle burners, and to reduce both the cost of the initial system and the necessary expense of the installation thereof.

In carrying out myinvention I provide a generator adapted to generate acetylene at a relatively high pressure, preferably of the carbid to water type having a carbid receptacle surmounting a water reservoir and provided with a carbid feeding device actuated by the pressure of the gas generated.

In the form shown the carbid feeding de vice is controlled by the pressure of the gas acting on a flexible diaphragm, though other means may be employed such for example as a float acting in a displacement holder Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 4L, 191"].

Serial No. 81,079.

the respective levels of the water in which are controlled by the gas pressure. The system also comprises piping of small bore which may have numerous branches and which may be bent into any convenient angle led to any part of the building. For each burner I provide both a gas cock and a restrictor which may be in the nature of a needle valve to shut down the pressure and volume of the gas flow before it reaches the burner.

Further features of the invention will be set forth after explaining the accompanya feed orifice 5, in which a tapered conical carbid feed valve 6 may enter. The conical feed valve 6 is attached by means of a rod 7 and clamping plates 8 and 9 to a flexible rubber diaphragm 10. Connected to and above the plates 8 and 9 is a starting rod 11 which is slotted to receive a latch or detent 12. At the top of the starting rod 11 is a handle 18 which serves to control the carbid feed valve 6 manually when starting or stopping the automatic action of the generator. A spring 1 1 in the cylinder 15 normally tends to pull the diaphragm and rod 7 downwardly, opening the carbid feed valve 6.

The carbid receptacle 2 is detachably mounted on the top of the gas chamber 3 and is held in place by swung bolts 16 engaging lugs 17 which are cast integral with the cover 18 of the carbid receptacle. A carbid charging opening 19 in the side of the carbid re ceptacle 2 is provided for filling the carbid receptacle when the latter is removed. A residuum or sludge cock 20 is provided for cleaning out the water and spent carbid or slaked lime from the water receptacle 1.

A latch or detent12 is provided working in a slot in the starting rod 11 for the purpose of arresting the automatic action of the generator by engaging against the top of the diaphragm cover 28 when desired, or for holding the carbid'feed valve 6 in a closed position against the action of the spring let, when the carbid receptacle is removed for recharging. To start the generator the handle 13 is raised allowing the detent 12 to fall and hang vertically in the slot in the starting rod 11 where it will not engage to interfere with the automatic action of the generator. a.

The gas is led from the gas chamber 3 through the cock 21 to the hollow wire or gas tubing 22 and thence to the various fixtur'es, each of which is provided with a restrictor 23 as well as the usual gas cock 2%, as shown in section in Fig. 2. Various forms of cock and restrictor may be used and it is immaterial Whether the restrictor comes before or after the cock in the connections leading to the burners 25. The hollow wire 22 may be jointed to other branches by suitable connectors 26 and 27.

, The ordinary acetylene burner of the form shown at 25, Fig. 2, requires about three inches water-column pressure and will blow badly if the pressure rises to that equivalent to a column of four inches or 33-,-%. For this reason the ordinary type of acetylene generator for lighting purposes has to be provided with a gasometer or expansible gasholder or storage reservoir so that any excess generation of gasbeyond that which is used immediately at the burners each time gasis generated is allowed to accumulate without any substantial change of pressure. These gasometers with their connecting pipes are relatively cumbersome and expensive to construct. They also have to be provided with volumetric and pressure relief valves,,traps for the connecting pipes and have the disadvantage of being dependent onwater seals which are liable to loss by evaporation, leakage, etc.

In all automatic acetylene generators the bringing together of the carbid and water is effected through the reduction within the apparatus of the pressure or volume of the 7 gas or both, due to the consumption of the gas at the burners or other outlets. For example, in my system the consumption of the gas at the burners results in a reduction of pressure within the generator which permits the flexible diaphragm 10 to descend under the action of the spring 14 which causes the rod 7 and valve 6 supported thereby to descend, and on account of the conical form of the valve gradually freeing the feed orifice 5 until carbid falls into the water in the reservoir 1 sufficient to generate gas to maintain the flow to the burners and feed valve 6 to'close the orifice 5.

usually an excess of the amount suflicient so that the pressure rises within the generator, causing the diaphragm to rise, overcoming the action of the spring thus causing the In all automatic generators ofwhatever type there is more or less so-called after generation by which is meant the excess gas formed after suflicient is produced to maintain the flow to the burners and automatically arrest the coming together of the carbid and Water. In systems in which gas is supplied compressed in cylinders, the pressure is usually 150 lbs. per square inch or more when received, and in" such systems it is necessary, in order to get'satisfactory results, to use antomatic pressure reducing valves which are expensive when sufficiently well made to be sensitive and reliable, and such systems are dangerous if the automatic regulating valves are of inferior make or get out of order.

By providing the type of "generator shown in Fig. 1 and running it at relatively high pressure and supplying restrictors for each burner, I eliminate the necessity for both storage gasometers and pressure regu lators. How this is accomplished and certain other desirable results obtained, will be understood from the following:

In. my system if a sufliciently powerful spring 14 is utilized, the gas will be generated under considerable pressure with the following advantages. First, it enables very small ,bore tubing, to be utilized without cutting down the pressure at the burners on account of friction in the tubing even though the burners be placed at a considerable distance from the generator. Second, since it takes a certain amount of variation in the pressure to effect the opening and closing of the carbid feed valve 6, a slight fluctuation of pressure within the gas chamber 3 always occurs, and by having the tension of the gas in the chamber 3 relatively high, the proportional variation of pressure is less than if the generator were operated under a low pressure. For example, a generator of this type shown in Fig. 1 and having a carbid capacity of about 15 pounds would have a free space in the gas chamber 3 above the water of about one cubic foot, Assume for the sake of explanation, thatthefree space in the chamber 3 is exactly one cubic foot. Then by increasing the quantity of gas contained therein to 1.0073 cubic feet, the pressure in the chamber would rise to 3 inches water-column pressure, the spring 14 being set to give this pressure at the required minimum for the burners. Assuming that it takes a variation of pressure of 4.08 inches of water to overcome the friction of the carbid feeding mechanism and allow for after generation, it would mean that each time carbid were fed, the pressure would rise to 3 plus'LOS, or T08 inches, at variation of 136% of the initial pressure, which would make the burnershiss and flare badly if not extinguished entirely. Assume that the spring tension on the diaphragm were adjusted so as to give a minimum gas pressure of 2 lbs. per square inch gage pressure or 55.42 inches water-column, then the added pressure required to actuate the feed mecha nism, overcome friction, and provide for after generation of 4.08 inches water-column pressure, would only raise the total pres sure to 59.50 inches water-column or 7 36%, which would not be a relative variation sufficient to be noticeable at the burners, but as the ordinary burner burning acetylene with an open flame would not burn at all or would blow itself out with a pressure on the system of two pounds per square inch, 1 provide the restrictors 23, which serve to cut down the pressure at the burner to the re quired three inches water-column pressure, with the result that the final fluctuations of pressure at the burner are even less than those which. occur with the usual type of gen erator having an expansible gasometer. Furthermore, with my system whichembodies a generator running at relatively high pressure and restrictors at the burners, it is not necessary to use automatic pressure regulators. After the restrictor has been adjusted when the plant is installed, it is not thereafter regulated, it being merely necessary to utilize the ordinary cocks 24L.

Another reason for the high pressure is to provide for pressure losses due to extremely long lengths of the tubing of small bore, and since, for example, one burner might-be 200 feet from the generator whereas another burner would be only ten feet away, the restrictors have the further use of regulating the pressure at different parts of the system. Therefore a combination of the pres sure and the restrictors, together with the small tubing, form features having great advantage over old systems which require gasometers and also relatively large and expensive gas piping which is not flexible, cannot be shipped in coils, and must be installed by pipefitters.

Another function of the pressure in connection with the restrictors, is to enable burners of various types to be used, as, for example, acetylene mantle burners as shown in Fig. 2, whereas the ordinary burner only requires 3 inches water-column pressure, the acetylene mantle burner in order to give high candle power efficiency and work properly, should be run at a much greater pressure, the best results being obtained from one to five pounds per square inch, depending upon whether the burner is upright, or of the in verted type, and on its size.

In carrying out this invention, details of construction may be varied from those shown, and yet the essence of the invention be retained; some parts might be employed without others, and new features thereof might be combined with elements old in the art in diverse ways, although the herein described type is regarded as embodying substantial improvements over such modifications.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is furthermore desired to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which as a matter of language might be said to fall therebetween.

I What I claim as new is 1. An acetylene lighting system, comprising a generator having an automatic pressure controlled material supply adjusted to maintain the gas at a pressure many times as great as the variation required to effect the control of the material supply gas burner, gas conductors connecting said burners to said generator and comprising tubes of relatively small bore and relatively high frictional resistance to the gas flow, and an adjustable restrictor and a gas cook for each burner.

2. An acetylene gas lighting system, comprising a generator having an automatic pressure controlled material supply adjusted to maintain the gas at a minimum pressure many times as great as the maximum pres sure variation in the system, a plurality of gas burners, gas conductors connecting said burners to said generator, and an adjustable restrictor and a gas cook for each burner.

3. An acetylene gas lighting system, coinprising a generator having an automatic pressure controlled material supply adjusted to maintain the gas at a minimum pressure many times as great as the maximum pres sure variation in the system, gas conductors comprising tubes of relatively small bore and relatively high frictional resistance to the gas flow, gas burners, a gas cook for each burner, and means for controlling the pressure of the gas delivered at the burners, said parts being so proportioned and arranged that variations in pressure in the generator are prevented from becoming effective at the burners.

4t. An acetylene lighting system, comprising a source of acetylene supply, said supply being subject to Variations in pressure, means tions in pressure at the source of supply from operated by the variations in pressure of said becoming effective at said burners. 10 source of supply to maintain the acetylene Signed at New York, N. Y., this 28 day at a pressure above the atmosphere many of February, 1916.

5 times as great as the variations required to REGINALD V. EARLE.

operate said means, gas burners and conduc- Witnesses: I tors between said burners and said source of BEATRICE MIRvIs, supply constructed to prevent said varia- ABRAM BERNSTEIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of new. Washington, D. 0. 

